Page 79 of Witch Unexpected
He groaned, and I located him on the ground across the room. He’d been knocked out of my arms. The door was blocked by magic. It made no sense. No time to figure it out because red shit was pouring out of the wall.
I knew what this was.
I’d seen it only a few hours ago. How was it here? How the fuck?
I scrambled to my feet, grabbed hold of Wren, and made a beeline for the balcony. A red blur rushed me, cutting off my escape, and forcing me back.
The revenant formed, skeletal, and a crimson so dark it was almost black. It opened its maw and screamed.
I decided to join in. I ducked as it made a swipe for me and ran toward the dresser where my holster and blade were.
Wren clung to my back, his heart beating way too fast between my shoulder blades.
Blades!
I slid them from the holster and turned in time to slash at the revenant.
It screamed and backed up. Black goo drifted into the air from the wounds I’d inflicted before zipping back toward the revenant to heal him.
I eyed the balcony to my left. If I could dodge this fucker, I could get out there and… What? Jump?
Fuck it, jumping was better than having my soul eaten. Gargoyles were out there. I could climb on a ledge and call for help, something, because there was no way for me to fight this thing. Only a negation chant could do that. Only The Elites could do that.
“Wren loves Cora,” Wren whimpered. “Get ready to run.”
“What?”
The revenant attacked, and Wren leaped over my shoulder and landed on its face.
“Run!” my tiny buddy yelled.
“Like hell.”
While the revenant clawed at Wren, trying to pry him off, I buried my daggers in the thing’s abdomen and dragged the blades back and forth, opening him up.
Its cry of rage was muffled by Wren, but not for long. I yanked out the daggers and made a grab for Wren.
He cried out as the hilts touched his fur.
“I’m sorry, buddy.” There was no way I was leaving him behind. We ran onto the balcony. I slammed the doors behind me, not sure why, because it probably wouldn’t keep the revenant at bay, but it made me feel better. There was a ledge to the left of the balcony that led to another balcony several meters away. We could make it.
Wren whimpered and sobbed.
Shit, the iron hilts of my blade… “I got you.” I dropped the blades and adjusted my grip on him. Warm slick blood coated my hands. “Oh fuck, Wren.”
He was hurt. I set him on the balcony floor. His abdomen was bloody, probably where the revenant had taken a bite. If I didn’t get help soon, he’d bleed out. There was no way he could hold on to me while I tried to scale these walls, and I needed my hands free to do it.
The glass doors to the balcony shuddered. My head whipped round to see the revenant pushing through the glass inch by inch. I mean, he could have opened the doors, but maybe revenants didn’t have that kind of intelligence?
“Go, Cora,” Wren said. “Go.”
I couldn’t leave him. I wouldn’t. I scooped him up, backed up against the railing and screamed—the loudest, most bloodcurdling fucking scream I could muster.
The revenant burst through the glass and barreled toward me, its hunger a potent force blasting against my skin.
I hit it with power, weak but effective enough to knock it back.
“Help!”
